Oakland city attorney candidates' astute proposals

ON THE EAST BAY

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 18, 2012

The two leading candidates in the race for Oakland city attorney are both current officeholders who are pushing their own eye-catching proposals.

This week City Attorney Barbara Parker introduced legislation that would prohibit protesters from possessing shields, pressurized spray cans or fire accelerants at any demonstration event. Offenders arrested under the ordinance would face up to six months in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000 if convicted. The effort would ramp up the city's attempts to improve their control of sometimes violent demonstrations that began in coordination with the national Occupy movement last fall.

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Her opponent, Councilwoman Jane Brunner, is shepherding an equally smart proposal to require banks to provide city officials with early notification of foreclosed properties and calling on them to make sure those left vacant do not become blighted.

The candidates' responses to questions about their proposed ordinances not only underscore their approach to the campaign, they reveal a bit about the candidates themselves.

Parker's approach to the job is almost professorial. Brunner is a more polished public speaker and more political in her viewpoints.

"This ordinance is not being presented as part of a campaign," Parker said Thursday in a phone interview. "We've been working with the police to try and figure out how to both protect the constitutional right to demonstrate and protect police and bystanders from damage and injury."

It's true that Occupy Oakland activists have been among the most confrontational groups in the nation - and on several occasions the group's demonstrations have descended into mayhem and near-riotous situations.

Incumbent's platform

Parker went on to say that the "vast majority" of people arrested in a series of Occupy Oakland demonstrations held in downtown Oakland since last fall "are not from Oakland or even the Bay Area."

Parker told me she announced the proposal because it was her job.

"I'm the city attorney now, so I'm the spokesperson," she said.

Well, not exactly. Alex Katz is a paid staff spokesperson in the city attorney's office.

Parker can slice it and dice it as she pleases, but make no mistake, folks, with comments like that she's preaching, she's campaigning.

With a veteran opponent like Jane Brunner, Parker need not be embarrassed or shy or reticent about using her appointed position as an incumbent's platform.

Brunner, who chairs the council's community and economic development committee, eagerly took the point position on a council proposal to hold lenders' feet to the fire on more than 3,300 homeownerswho were sent notices of default. Roughly half of those homes are blighted, city records showed.

Brunner was the flag-bearer on the issue - and it certainly can't hurt her aspirations for her next office.

Determining occupancy

Brunner said city officials expect to meet with bank industry officials next week to address concerns about the proposed ordinance. The primary sticking point for banks is the difficulty of determining if a property is occupied or has been abandoned, Brunner said.

If vacant, banks would be forced to pay a $568 annual registration fee, hire a property manager, secure the premises, and maintain the home and yard. Some portion of the fund could be used to establish a fund for at-risk homeowners. Based on a model used in Boston, the plan calls for a nonprofit organization, in conjunction with a city program, to purchase foreclosed properties from lenders and refinance the property in an effort to offer homeowners more affordable monthly mortgage payments and a chance to salvage their investment.

"I've worked like this for North Oakland for years, but I've never done it citywide," Brunner said.